The invention relates to an apparatus for cutting tire carcasses provided with or without steel belts into a plurality of annular sections. More particularly, the apparatus includes plural rotatable means which are associated in such a way that they are moved from an inoperative position into an operative position, said latter position of the rotatable means providing both a support for the tire carcass relative to a cutting blade as well as a frictional contact with a drivable roughened rotatable annular body.
With the use of the apparatus described above it will be understood that the only limitation in how many annular sections the tire carcass may be divided into will depend on the number of knives utilized to cut through the tire carcass.
In known apparatus of the initially mentioned type a circular knife that rotates by means of the driving mechanism serves as a cutting element which is disposed approximately in the middle of the driving mechanism. Opposite this cutting-driving mechanism and on the inside of the tire, is disposed a counter gear that is provided with an annular groove and into which the edge of the circular knife can slide after cutting the tire. In this type of construction, the tire is driven essentially by the rotation of the blade itself. Apart from the fact that whenever the circular blade encounters a cavity or tear in the tire, which often exist in the case of such old tires, the drive mechanism often does not operate properly and as a result it is practically impossible to cut through the periphery of the tire satisfactorily. On the one hand where a knife cuts very well, the driving friction for the rotation of the tire is too small and on the other hand, where a knife cuts poorly, i.e., where there is proper rotation of the tire, the complete separation of the carcass into individual parts takes too long. These disadvantages are further increased where tire carcasses have metal belts imbedded in the tread.